The Last of the Dragon Riders
by butters2016
Summary: "There were dragons, when I was a boy. Where they went, only a few know... I am the last of the Vikings. I, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, am the last of the Dragon Riders. Think of me whatever you want, I do not care, but listen to me. Our story changed the world forever..." Hiccup Haddock IV was always told his grandpa was crazy, but he never expected this. Minor spoilers for THW
1. Chapter 1

The Last of the Dragon Riders

 **Hey y'all!**

 **This is going to be a short story, something like 2-3 chapters, so nothing much, and for the people who have read my other story, the next chapter is coming soon, don't worry. This was just an idea I had after the trailer for the third movie dropped and I thought I'd do something with it!**

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock IV gazed out upon the seas around Berk through his auburn hair, the waves crashing against rocks and ships alike, the cold wind chilling his face, the smell of salt in his nose. The old Viking guardian statues were currently being torn down, in order to make room for the new Christian statues that would take their place. The island was, after all, no longer home to savage Vikings but to Berkians who had been Christianized by the missionaries, converted and now a peaceful trading island. The old fighting arena, allegedly used to train new Vikings and gladiator-like fights, had been torn down and the Viking influences swept from the island. Every resident was a peaceful Norseman or woman that was still proficient in sailing the seas, albeit this time with gold substituted for weapons.

Well, all but one of the residents.

Who would that be? His grandfather, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. He didn't know much about his grandfather, other than he was formerly a Viking, although one time his father, Asher Haddock, said he looked like Hiccup III.

When talking with the traders, those from the Christian mainlands told him stories of a ruthless Berkian Chief that conquered the peaceful, friendly islands before embarking on a campaign against the Slavic peoples and nomadic tribes in Scandinavia. Those from the former Viking islands, however, told a story of a man that peacefully united the Viking tribes against a ruthless warlord known as Drago, destroying his forces and becoming King of the Wilderwest, ruling over a united Viking Archipelago before his first son's death, Stoic Haddock II, resulted in the fracture of the Kingdom. His second son, Asher, converted to Christianity and won the protection of the Catholic Church, saving Berk from internal warfare and external threats. He was only barely able to convince the Scandinavian armies from other kingdoms that protected the island to spare what was left of the Vikings, leaving those who supported Hiccup III to be cast out to the far side of Berk, and Hiccup III to live at the top of Raven's Pointe.

On personal details, not much was known about Hiccup III. Hiccup knew from his father that Hiccup III had a wife and several friends, but all of them had long since passed, each one having their body loaded onto a ship, set alight, and cast off. Each time, the ships were swallowed up by an intense fog, preventing the villagers from seeing whether or not the ship sank. Each time, however, Hiccup had not come out of his home on the top of Raven's Pointe.

He almost felt bad for his grandfather, having no friends, no one to talk to anymore, and being thought of by everyone as a bloodthirsty, violent leader. Even King Asher Haddock, son of the last King of the Wilderwest, rarely spoke of his father. It was a mystery to him, why no one on the island knew anything about this man.

Hiccup sighed and turned to walk back towards the forge, the sun just beginning to set and the sky changing from blue to red and orange. He had been working in the forge since he was ten, and now that he was eighteen, he was fairly skilled in the metalworking, making trinkets, rings, decorative swords, axes, and other products that were sold by the traders at the various markets around the islands. While turning eighteen was something to celebrate for most Norseman, he dreaded it, as it meant that that he would soon have to take the reins from his father and become the King of Berk, then probably marrying that crazy princess from the Bog Islands, Camicazi. She wasn't unattractive, but she was fairly combative and intense, which scared the sensitive Berkian Prince.

It wasn't all that bad, but he'd rather marry someone his own age if it could be helped. What was worse was the fact that his father was only desiring the marriage because it would unite the Kingdom of Berk and the Bog Islands, giving his son more territory to command and more wealth. It would also help the people of Berk by giving them more access to food coming from the Bog Islands. "Always put the people before yourself, boy," was what his father told him at least once a day. He hated it, mostly because he didn't want to be a king. He didn't even want to be a prince, as a matter of fact. What he wanted to be was an adventurer, going to the Far East, meeting new people, seeing exotic plants, and all of the other wonders the world had. He had even heard of a place called Vinland, far across the seas of the West, that the Vikings, under Hiccup III's orders, had discovered, planning to settle there before their collapse.

Once his work was finished he began walking home, the sun now having set about an hour ago, and decided to take a little detour on the way to his house, walking around the edges of the village. He was told by many of the townspeople, who were more European than Berkian at this point, to avoid the forests at the outskirts, as demonic dragons roamed them and would eat anyone that came within the dark woods.

"Right, because dragons are real," he smirked to himself. How could they be real?

Enjoying the fresh air out by the cliffs, he decided to sit down on the edge of one, just outside the village. He looked back at the small huts and houses, then to the workers still working on removing the Viking guardians, their light now provided by hundreds of torches. He took out his sketchbook and decided to start doodling a little bit. He make sketches of the village, the workers, the cliffs, the rocks sticking out of the sea, and even the mountain behind him. He was in the middle of drawing his grandfather's house when a strange sound caught his attention. It sounded like thunder, but shorter and higher in pitch. Like an explosion, but also different.

He looked around him, seeing if the sound was from anything near him, but he didn't see anything. He searched around him again, and got up to look at anything on the other side of the hill, but didn't see anything. "Hm," was all he said before sitting down and finishing the sketch. He didn't even hear what was behind him.

"You know, I used to sketch when I was your age."

"AAAH!" He jumped, dropping his sketchbook and raising his hands, ready to fight this man who snuck up him.

This… _old_ man. This old man with a walking stick and grey beard and large fur cape. _Oh, okay, it's just an old man trying to talk._ He studied the man's features, as there was something familiar about them but he just couldn't place it. "Do I know you, sir?" Maybe he was another traveler that came in on a late ship, hoping to settle here.

"You…You don't know me?" The old man seemed a little heartbroken.

"I…," _What do I say? I don't want him to get made at me and start a fight_! "It's just…Well, I need to know your name. As Prince, I would like to know your name, stranger, or otherwise I will call my guards." _That was a bluff, there were probably no Berkian guards near here, and the Scandinavian soldiers were almost as cruel as raiders and pirates._

"Well, in that case, let me introduce myself, young Prince," he bowed, "my name is Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. I believe that you are my grandson, so I am a little disappointed in my son for not having told you about me."

Hiccup's heart dropped. _This man was his grandpa_? While he wasn't threatening himself, he was old and frail-looking, the legacy of this man was terrifying all of a sudden. Stories he once doubted were, for some reason, becoming more and more believable, now that the man was physically in front of him. Now that the former King of the Wilderwest was standing in front of him, real, the crimes he allegedly committed seemed real.

"Uhhh…"

"It's alright, son, you don't have to say anything. I know what you people have said of me, denouncing me and calling me a savage and whatnot, probably thrown the word bloodthirsty in there as well…"

"Uhhh…"

"Oh, come on! This is the former King of the Wilderwest, the greatest Viking Chieftain to ever rule Berk, your grandfather, and all you can say is 'uhhhhh?"

"Well…I…I just…"

"It's okay, son," he chuckled a little, and the sound was reassuring for some reason, calming him somewhat. "I would be afraid, too. I understand I am somewhat an…unpopular person because of my background and history, unfortunately."

"Yeah, a little," he regretted saying that, as his grandfather became upset, bowing his head a little and looking at the ground, "but it's also just weird! You know, I've never met you and all this people have told me all of this stuff about you, and I don't know what's real or not!"

"Well," he paused and turned away, pulling a blue handkerchief out of his pocket and covered the violent coughs that wracked his body, "I suppose that's because talking about me in some shape or form is outlawed, right?"

"Well, kind of, yeah. It covers just anything about Vikings."

"But, why would they outlaw any talk about Vikings or me if it's negative or derogatory, showing us as violent demons?"

"Well, because the law says…"

"No, think. They wouldn't, would they? They only let the people telling horrible stories about us be free because it helps them, right?"

"Yeah, I guess…"

"Are you sure you're my grandson?"

"What? Hey! What do you mean by that?"

"You're a little slow to understand somethings, son."

"Oh, like I'm supposed to understand everything that's said? I just assumed they would care about talking about Vikings in general!"

"Well, they can't aren't arresting everyone on the streets, are they?"  
"What? Arresting? No, it's illegal and the punishment is being sent to Hell…"

"Sent to Hell?! Oh, that's how they're keeping the population in line nowadays," he laughed again, this time followed by more violent coughing, "When I was chief, I had to keep some of my men, namely Jorgensons, in line with threats that…" he paused for a second, his face going completely blank, "of banishment! That was the only way to…ground…them."

"Oh," Hiccup didn't know what to say to that. He didn't know anyone named Jorgenson. A silence fell between them, before he thought of a question. "Wait, why are you here? You're banished from the village and you're only supposed to be living at your home, with the rest of your…people on the far side of the island."

"My people?"

"Yeah, the...Vikings."

"Ok, son, first off," he pointed to the village of Berk, "those are my people. True-blooded Berkians, if there any left in that village, and not the mainland scum your father let in after Stoic died. Second, everyone I know is now dead. Eret, Dagur, Heather, Mala, Tuffnut and Ruffnut Thorston, Snotlout Jorgenson, Fishlegs Ingerman, Gobber and…" his face became more somber, "Astrid. I'm the only one left. And to answer your question, of why I'm here…" he pulled out his handkerchief again and began coughing, "I'm…dying."

"You're…dying?" his grandfather didn't look that old, how could he be dying?

"Yes, dying." He showed him the handkerchief, and in the dark he could some of the spots on it were darker than the others. _Blood_. He backed up quickly. "Oh, don't be so scared, it's not spreading. I've had this cough for years and Astrid never got it."

"Who's…Who's Astrid?"

"She is…" his voice became lower and more fragile, "well… _was_ …my wife. A woman whom I admired and still admire every day, even if she has passed into Valhalla." Hiccup was feeling a little sorry for his exiled grandpa, he would didn't want to tell him that his wife, whom he seemed to love very much, was probably not in Valhalla, whatever that was. "She was the best warrior the world has ever known, and probably the only person who could talk sense into my stubborn head." He laughed a little to himself. "She…uhh…got very sick, one day, and then a few days later she was gone. She didn't leave any note, and I never found her body anywhere in the forests, so…" he stopped, obviously not wanting to continue.

"Oh," he wasn't sure what to say, "sorry for your loss, sir."

"Don't call me sir, please, just…just call me grandpa, or something else. Just no sir crap."

"Ok, ummmm…" he didn't really feel comfortable calling him grandpa, "Hiccup." _You're actually an idiot,_ he told himself.

"Wonderful." The older Hiccup walked over to the ledge, coughing more and more into his handkerchief, before sighing and taking in the sea around his former home. It was kind of sad, Hiccup had to be admit, to see someone who was his family and know so little about them, as well as be _illegal_ to even see him.

"Uhh, Hiccup? The third?"

"What's with the title, just call me by name if you're really that uncomfortable with acknowledging I'm family."

"Why are you here? Wait, I know you're dying, but why'd you pick this location? This is illegal for you to be here, and the island's so big, I thought you'd have another place to pick, maybe."

The older Hiccup sighed, his grey hair fluttering in the wind, and took a deep breath. "A long time ago, I came up here and did something that changed my life, and the course of the entire Archipelago, forever. A few days after this, I met someone who changed my life forever. He and I were not the best of friends at first, but one night, I gained his trust, his friendship, and he gained my loyalty. After, I helped him regain something he'd lost, because of me, and I lost this," he showed his foot, which Hiccup now saw to be a prosthetic, "because of him. But, it made us both stronger, and together, we went on countless adventures and saw so much of the world. He changed my life forever, and changed our entire world, too. I wanted to come up here and see the seas of my home one last time, before I go there to die." Tears welled in the former chieftain's eyes, and Hiccup felt bad for him. _This is grandpa, Hiccup, you have to help him somehow._

 _But this man is a Viking, he even admitted it!_

 _Look at him, does he look like an actual Viking? He's old, and dying, and he has no one left to be with him. At least help him this one time._ The angel on his shoulder won the argument that time, although Hiccup still had reservations about it. He took a deep breath, and summoned all of his courage: "Do you…ummm…want me to go with you? To wherever to die? Maybe some company in your final moments would be nice?"

The older Hiccup turned and smiled at the younger Hiccup, a soft, heartwarming, gratuitous smile. "That…That would be very nice, thank you, son." He got up slowly, picking up his waking stick and a bag that Hiccup didn't see before and began walking towards the woods.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"Towards what I hope to be my final resting place?"

"In there?" He pointed towards the trees, and the older Hiccup took one look in the direction before laughing.

"Yes! That's where the Cove is! Why, are you afraid of something in there?"

"Well, no…I mean…Well, dragons don't exist so they can't be in the forest-" that seemed to stop the older Hiccup in a second, turning around and getting in so close to his face he could smell the bark he probably chewed earlier this morning.

"What did you say?"

"I…nothing…I said there can't be anything in there?"

"No no no, before that?"

"I…dragons aren't real?" The older Hiccup seemed to take offense to this, immediately turning around and storming off towards the forest.

"Wait, what?"

"Nevermind, just come with me if you still want to be my companion!"

About 15 minutes later, they had reached a small cove out in the forests. The older Hiccup seemed to not care about the darkness of the forest of the potential predators watching them right now, but the same couldn't be said for his grandson, who was nervous yet excited about being in a place he'd never seen before. Hiccup III must have noticed this.

"Excited about something?"

"Just…I've never been outside the village before, that's all."

"Not even in the forests?"

"Especially not. They're off limits, according to the soldiers from the other Kingdoms."

"Ha! I let my second son take over my kingdom, and he turns it into a puppet for the mainland," he turned around, "when I was your age, I was living on another island, fighting an enemy much larger and more numerous than my forces, of which I only had 11 other soldiers in my command! And that was already after I had defeated two other chiefs from different islands!"

"What, really?"

"Yeah! We lived on the edge, exploring, finding treasures…you know, it was there that I decided to start dating my wife."

"You lived on the edge? What does that mean?"

"What…," he hmphed angrily, "not _lived on the edge_ , we lived on the Edge! The island's name was the Edge!"

"There's no islands around here named 'the Edge'."

"That's probably because that Roman or King or something has changed all of the names of the islands. I bet our houses don't even exist anymore. Ah, we're here!" He gestured to a small cove in front of the pair, where there was only a small pond and some grass. It was kind of… "Boring, yes, I know, but so many things happened here, it's hard to know what's more important than others." He led him down a small rocky path to the bottom, where they crossed through some rocks. In front of the pair, Hiccup IV saw something strange jutting between the rocks. It was circular, and covered in vines and rot.

"What is that?"

"A mistake from another age. My first shield." He laughed, patting it, "you know, all this time, it might be able to come loose…" He set his stick against a rock, coughed a little, and then grabbed the shield with both hands and began to pull. The shield squeaked and cracked, but it didn't budge.

"Here, let me try," the younger Hiccup tried, and on the third attempt the shield broke free, throwing him back on the ground and holding the faded piece of Viking weaponry.

"Aha! You did it! Finally! That's been there longer than your father has been alive!" He took the shield and brushed off some of the vines, strapping it to his arm and testing the weight.

It was somewhat surreal to the younger Prince of Berk. Here was this man, whom so many in his village were afraid of and soldiers and traders that only spoke ill of, acting like a complete child with a shield too small for him. He was actually happy he had the shield back, but why was it there in the first place?

"Why was the shield there in the first place?" He got up and followed Hiccup to a tree near the pond, sitting next to him on a flat rock. Funny, the rock looked a little darker than some other ones.

"I brought it when I met my friend for the first time, thinking I'd need it. Turns out, fish was better than a shield."

"What? How?"

"He liked fish."

"What did you say your friend's name was?"

"I…didn't say."

"What was his name, then?"

"Uhhh…Tooth…less...Toothless. That was his name."

"What? What kind of a name is Toothless?"

"Yeah, great name, I know. Well, Vikings believed a hideous name would frighten off gnomes and trolls. Like our charming Viking demeanor wouldn't do that." They both laughed a little, but something sat funny with the younger Hiccup.

"So, wait, you and Toothless are enemies, but you suddenly stop fighting, right?"

"Well…yes."

"And you guys just become friends instantly, like that?"

"Well…not instantly-"

"But you guys fought one another, I'm assuming for years before, right?"

"Yeah, I guess. Well, actually it was his…people that fought Berk for years before, for hundreds of years, but eventually we brought them in and Toothless and I created a lasting peace."

"Obviously didn't last long since you went on to conquer lands in the east not 5 years after that."

"6 years, and that's…unrelated don't ask me about that."

"Why? What happened?"

"A tyrant happened. One that wanted to control and conquer the world using…using an army of slaves to do his bidding, against their will…"

"Oh, conquering the world? Like everyone but you says the Vikings did?"

"I don't expect to like what I did, but we were trying to survive."

"I wouldn't exactly say burning churches is surviving."

"We weren't burning the churches, we were burning what was inside of them. The information inside documents in the churches."

"Ok, like Bibles? So you could brainwash people into accepting some archaic belief about Nordic gods of Thunder and mythical hammers and frost giants?"

"No. You don't understand, you wouldn't understand," he turned to the younger Hiccup, forest green eyes stony and focused, "I ordered those documents to be burned to protect my friend."

"Your friend? The one that you fought initially, made peace with, stopped a never-ending war, went on adventures with, and fought a tyrant with?" He nodded, but the younger Hiccup could've sworn that when he turned away he heard the words 'set up' and 'girlfriend' too. "You expect me to believe that after that tall tale, you decided to kill hundreds of people to protect your friend?"

"I…Look, I'm not proud of what I did. I don't like that many people were killed, I hated it, but I had to keep certain information about my friend and his people from getting into the hands of people who wanted it."

"Like who?"

"Like…Hunters! Ok? They hunted down people like my friend! We had to stop the information about them from getting out to others, and after that we destroyed the Hunters and the rest of the tyrant's army."

"You're not making any sense. What was so special about your friend? What information were you concerned about escaping? What couldn't he do it?"

"He…He wasn't present at the time."

"Oh, so he left? Some friend that was." That must've stuck a nerve with the older Haddock, who immediately stood up and grabbed the younger one's shirt collar.

"You shut your mouth. You have no idea who he was, how important he was, or how much he changed me. He is the only reason you even exist."

"What was he?"

"What?" The older Hiccup let go of the younger one's shirt collar, and was confused at the question.

"What was he? No two humans stop fighting that quickly unless there's another, larger enemy-"

"There was-"

"Hold on- that threatens the two of them, and even after most will continue fighting. That holds, but also you make it sound like he was persecuted and hunted by several people-"

"Yes, the Hunters, the tyrant and a man named Grimmel, to name a few…"

"Ok, well, no people are persecuted that much on this side of Europa." He paused, "That's why I asked. You're friend doesn't even sound human, more like a rare dog or something, but even then why was there a war? See, that's why I'm so confused, you talk of him like he's a human, but from what I know, he's not. So, what is he?"

The older Hiccup stood there, obviously searching for words to respond, but finding none. This made the younger Hiccup even more curious. "Why can't you talk about him? What's wrong? Is this all made up or something?" Becoming slightly more worried the younger Hiccup slowly began reaching for the knife he kept sheathed on the back of his belt.

"Look, I'm not sure if you'll believe me…" Just before he could respond, a shout echoed from outside the cove.

"FREEZE, VIKING!" Soldiers dressed in armor and wearing white shirts with a red cross on them appeared all around the area, aiming crossbows at Hiccup III. "Don't more towards the prince anymore! Hands up!"

"Prince, back away from the Viking," another soldier yelled. Some of the men had entered the cove with swords drawn, walking towards the pair.

"Did you lead them here?" The older Hiccup's voice sounded broken, decimated with betrayal and hurt, because of his own grandson.

"What, no, I…" in that moment, he realized his mistake. _I left the sketchbook on the cliffs. They must've found it and followed us here from the footprints._ His heart broke at the hurt in his grandpa's eyes. "I'm so so sorry, I…"

"No, it's ok. I understand. As of late, the Haddock line seems to have a tendency to betray family members." Venom was laced into his voice, and his grandson didn't blame him.

The soldiers finally reached the pair and put shackles on the older Hiccup's hands and took off his prosthetic leg. "Oh, why…" he was cut off by a punch in the stomach, followed by intense coughing and Hiccup could've sworn he saw some more blood come spilling from the elder's mouth.

"Can it, Viking scum."

"Guys, can't he have his leg back?"

"I'm sorry, Prince, but this man is a dangerous-"

"He's an old man, for Chrissakes-"

"He's a DANGEROUS, bloodthirsty Viking!"

"Yeah, look at me, so bloodthirsty?"

"Shut it, scum." The soldiers set him down on his knees, and before the younger Hiccup's eyes, one walked forward with his sword drawn. He started panicking.

"Wait, you can't do that, the King-"

"Your king has no command over us," the soldier replied, "I know of the deal to spare the heathens, but frankly, we don't care…"

"You can't do that!"

"Any last words, Viking heathen? Perhaps you'd like to convert to save your soul eternal damnation?"

"All I have to say is that I lived my life to the best I could, and helped as many as I could. I saved countless lives and taken others, but whether I'm remembered as famous or infamous, my story will be remembered for ages to come. And I am lying on the ground, the Valkyries will come for me, and I will rejoice with my kind in Valhalla as the Last of the Vikings."

"Very well," the soldier raised the sword, and the older Hiccup just closed his eyes, accepting it his fate, seeming to be truly happy and at peace.

"NOOO!" Hiccup IV's legs were frozen to the ground, but he couldn't let this happen. He couldn't let his grandpa, exiled or not, be killed while the law allowed him to live. _Please, God, don't let him die_ …

The sword was its apex when some type of roar echoed throughout the sky. A _whoosh_ was heard and the trees swayed at the speed of whatever object caused the sound, and the soldiers began to get nervous. The sword was halted, the executioner looking around, partially in fear, while the older Hiccup opened his eyes and laughed, loud and hysterically. "Ohh, is that you up there, bud? After all these years, you finally thought you'd drop by to say hi again? Can I just say you have impeccable timing?!"

"Who are you talking to," Hiccup IV asked.

"Oh, my old friend…"

"Enough talk," the executioner had turned back around, "let's get this over with," pointing the sword at the Viking's neck.

"Oooooo, I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said, smiling.

"Really? And why ever not?"

"Because Toothless doesn't like it when you have a weapon in the Cove." _Absolutely mad, he has to be_ was all that the younger Hiccup could think at the moment. The sword raised, and the younger Hiccup braced for what was going to happen next.

What happened next, however, was a surprise to everyone, it seemed, except the Viking Hiccup.

First, a small explosion went off five feet in front of them, and a white _thing_ shot out of the smoke and tackled the executioner, knocking him off his feet, before disappearing again in another small explosion.

Then, a black snake or vine or tail or something swept all of them off their feet, before something carried the two soldiers holding the older Hiccup into the air and dropping them in the pond. _What the…_

Finally, a screech was heard throughout the sky, getting louder and louder by the second and then multiplying, but the older Hiccup just sauntered over to the flat rock and grabbed his old shield, wiping the vines off of it.

"What's…What's going?"

"Oh, yeah, you might want to…" He didn't finish, as he ducked behind his shield when the screaming in the sky reached its highest pitch. All of a sudden, three _blue_ explosions erupted all around the cave, the absolute brilliance and force behind them stunned and blinded the young Haddock, before a fourth and more powerful struck outside of the Cove, knocking everything back with all it's power and might. The young Haddock, still temporarily blinded, was sent colliding with a large stone, and he could he feel the world slowly becoming darker around him. The last thing he remembered before going unconscious was something grabbing at his shirt collar.

The first thing he noticed when he woke up was the sand. It was everywhere, and it was itchy. The second thing he noticed was the light. He brought his hand up and rubbed his eyes, slowly opening them and taking in his surroundings.

 _Okay, sun, good, cave, sand, beach…Wait, sand? Beach?_ He shot up quickly, too quickly, and immediately became dizzy. He grabbed his head.

"Easy, you might have a concussion, Toothless is to blame for that one."

"Yeah, well, tell Toothless he can repay for it in gold."

"Yeah, well…Toothless doesn't deal in gold."

"Okay, well…what does he deal in?" He was still rubbing his eyes.

"Uhhh…Fish. Grass. Sometimes mechanical contraptions…"

"Okay, well, he owes me somehow," he opened his eyes, "now, where did he take us? Your friend? And is he some sort of wizard or something?"

"Why would you ask that?" Now, Hiccup III looked as if he was trying to hold in a laugh.

"Well, with the whole…Teleportation, and the lifting people up, and the explosions, no weapons can do any of that."

"Well, I'll tell you right now, Toothless can only do two of those. His girlfriend can do all three, though.

"Wait, what?"

"And as to where we are, I can tell you for a fact I know where we are," he walked past his grandson to the entrance of the cave, "the island we are at is one humans still have yet to colonize, but they probably never will because it's so desolate. And it's of the greatest importance to Toothless and his friends."

"How long have we been here? What is it called?"

"Well, you woke up only a few minutes after we arrived, and as for the name of the island," he paused and looked dramatically out towards the sea,

"Vanaheim."

Pause.

Longer pause.

"Is that supposed to mean something, sir?"

"Wha-stop with the sir stuff, and yes! It's Vanaheim!"

"Is that the place you said you were gonna go when you died?"

"NO! THAT'S VALHALLA, THIS IS VANAHEIM, IT'S THE….MMMRRRRR" he just growled to himself now, picked up his walking stick and coughed more into the cloth. "It's…ugh, ok, I'll admit, everything I said has been mostly true. I've lied on a few parts, but if I promise to come clean, will you at least try to believe me and not do anything stupid?"

"Yeah, sure, I-" another _whoosh_ overhead, this time a shadow flew on the beach, and from the split second he saw it, it looked like a _giant bat_. His heart began pumping in his ears. "What is this?"

A deep breath. Everything around them, even the waves seemed to silence.

"There…There were dragons, when I was a boy. We fought them for years but Toothless and I defeated the one controlling them and brought peace between humans and dragons. We defended dragons and humans alike from common enemies, and our cooperation turned Berk into a dragon utopia. But, soon they had to leave this world. Where they went, only a few know when they left. Now, I am the only one left, the only who knows where they went."

"So…the Vikings? The Vikings knew where they all went, but now you're the last one?"

"Close. I may be the last Viking, but there is another thing I signal the end for."

"And that is…?"

"I…I…I am the last of the Vikings, but more importantly, the Riders. I, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, am the last of the Dragon Riders. Think of me whatever you want, I do not care, but listen to me. our story changed the world forever..."

 **To be continued…**

 **Hope you all liked it! Read/Review and Follow/Favorite! Thank you so so much!**


	2. Chapter 2: Learning Experience

Chapter 2: Learning Experience

 **A/N: So, I'm not dead. I have, however, been busy. Good news is that I saw the Hidden World yesterday, which meant that I was inspired enough to finish this chapter. That being said, I'm currently changing some stuff to match the elements from the movie, so I apologize if anything from the last chapter doesn't match this one. I'm currently working on fixing it. Also, while I'm writing again, it will be a lot slower because of school, but I do get some breaks here and there. To make for the long break though, I thought a nice, long chapter would be a good way to start writing again.**

 **Now, this means that this chapter contains some MINOR SPOILERS! IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE HIDDEN WORLD, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!**

 **Enjoy! Don't forget to Fav, Follow and Review! Appreciate y'all!**

* * *

In the eighteen years that Hiccup Horrendous Haddock IV had been alive, he had never heard a statement so blasphemous, terrifying or exciting. Ever. _Dragons,_ he thought to himself, _alive? Real? And my crazy, reclusive uncle rode them?_ If he had heard this statement in Berk, he would've scoffed and shoved the elder Hiccup aside.

But after the whole ordeal in that special cove, along with the waking up on another island that was unknown to him, maybe there was at least some element of truth in what was being said. _I mean,_ he thought, trying to process his grandfather's past, _if there used to be dragons here, then why did they disappear so suddenly? Where did they go?_

 _Are they ever going to come back?_

"I can see you are somewhat confused by my statement," his grandfather's voice rattled his train of thought, throwing Hiccup IV back into reality.

"Uhhh, umm uhhh…"

"It's ok, I would doubt myself too, you know, if my grandfather pulled the stunt I did and admitted that trolls and goblins and demons were real," he chuckled softly, picking up a walking stick and going across the beach. "Come on, let's talk a little bit of a walk, I'll explain everything." Slowly, Hiccup IV got up, wiping the sand off of his shirt and trousers before following his grandfather across the beach. They walked in silence for a good few minutes, as Hiccup III seemed to be wanting to absorb the sights, sounds and feeling of being back…well, wherever they were. Meanwhile, Hiccup IV took in the sights and sounds as well but in an effort to attempt to figure out where they were. The first thing he realized as soon as he had gotten up from the sand was the biting chill in the air, not enough for snow but colder than the summer breeze in Berk. The sand also looked to be mixed with bits of rocks and sediment rather than shells, as it was rougher and darker, so that must mean they were more north than Berk, but only slightly. Yet, none of the islands immediately north of Berk were named _Vanaheim_ , and they certainly weren't as large as this even if a name had been changed.

The sun began passing into a large cluster of clouds, causing the air to become significantly colder, to the point where Hiccup IV began to noticeably shiver, yet his grandfather seemed to be getting on just fine. He kept looking up towards the sky, faded green eyes scouring the clouds for something, a slight smile on his face. "Where are ya, bud?"

"Huh?"

"Oh, uh, sorry, not you, I was talking to Toothless."

"Your imaginary friend?"

"Wha-no, you…I'm not crazy, you know."

"Then why are we here?"

"I'm here for a reason, to see an old friend, you just had the unfortunate circumstance of being next to me when my ride picked me up."

"Then tell your ride to take me back."

"No, why would I do that? You can finally learn about the-"

"Because this is kidnapping-"

"about the actual history of your forefathers-"

"of a prince of a respected tribe under the authority of the Church-"

"You know you're being difficult right now, right?"

"Then take me back."

"No, you need to stay."

"Yeah, well, I don't want to. But, I can make a deal with you: take me back, and no one will know you kidnapped me."

"How about this deal: you stay and learn."

"No, come on, open up a dialogue with me."

"This is a dialogue, I'm the elder and you are doing what I say, so you're gonna stay and learn."

"You know, this dialogue feels very one-sided…"

"Deal?" Hiccup IV wanted to retort, but at this point, he saw way he would be able to win anything with a retort or even a compromise. He suspected his grandfather wouldn't get him killed, so the only choice he had now was to just go along with it and at least see what his grandfather wanted him to learn about.

"Deal." Hiccup III sighed happily, spending another few moments looking up at the sky, that same smile still on his face. He slowly got himself up, coughing a few times, and began to walk inland towards the small mountain. Hiccup IV got up and followed, somewhat at a difference, but he'd since ceased looking at the sky.

Eventually, they came to a small clearing at the foot of the mountain, surrounded by large, enormouse boulders that almost formed a wall between them and their surroundings. His grandfather sat down, motioning to Hiccup IV to gather kindling and from nearby for a fire. Annoyed, he scrounged around for some small branches and a few pieces of tree bark from the dead and scattered trees on the island before heading back towards his grandfather. They set up the kindling and the branches and the logs and he got started on making a fire, watching his grandfather sit there quietly, intently twisting a small twig in his hand.

Once the fire was going, Hiccup IV sat on a small stone slab across the fire from his granfather, wondering what they were going to talk about next. However, they continued to sit in silence, his grandfather twisting that twig, until he said, "I'm sorry. For…Well, you know, 'kidnapping you', and…well…ummm…not really being the great family member."

"Oh…uhh…thank you…I guess…" Hiccup IV rubbed his neck, unsure of what to say next. "So, why am I here?"

"Huh?" Hiccup III turned back to face his grandson.

"Why am I here," he said, gesturing to himself.

"I told you. To learn about your history," he pointed between the two of them, "to learn about OUR history."

"But, I already learned about all of our history-"

"From who?"

"The…my teachers and my father…"

"No, wrong. That's not history. Not the real story, anyway. They won't tell you the real story, and part of that is my fault, at least. Well, actually, most of it."

"And why is that?"

"Well…Did they ever tell you why I made war with Drago?"

"Yeah…They told me you were the only one to stand up to him, the only Viking stupid enough to declare war on a Chr-"

"If you can really believe a man like Drago was a Christian, then let me clear something for you," Hiccup III leaned forward on the log, "He only got 'baptized' after we defeated him, and then the only reason we went after him years later was because he was the only other person who knew of our secret."

"Really? You destroyed villages and cities and raided ships and made war with everyone to protect your secret?"

"Don't believe me, huh?"

"No, not really. I mean, you killed innocent people!"

"Really? How so?"

"Well…I…It doesn't matter! My teachers all told me so! And now because of you, Berk has to be occupied by the Kingdoms and…"

"What did your father tell you about that?"

"About what?"

"The deaths of innocents. Did he ever speak of that?" The question was the first thing in a long time to stump Hiccup IV so thoroughly. He thought back to all of the times his father talked about Hiccup III, and while he remembered his father always speaking of how Asher never fully received his father's attention and ignored his advice, he never spoke of killing innocents.

"It was probably because he didn't want to talk about."

"I take that as a no?"

"Well…uhh…"

"Want to know another little thing they won't tell you about?"

"What, are you going to say dragons again?"

"No, actually, I was going to ask if they ever described Drago to you…"

"Oh, well, yeah, he was a mainlander, he…"

"Wrong." Hiccup III leaned back a little on his log, looking smug.

"What do you mean wrong? How do you know if-"

"Have you ever met a European with a name like Drago?"

"Well…no-"

"Exactly. Drago was from the East. And he was no saint, leading masses of starving and poor peasants to salvation. He was a warlord who led an army. And years after he tried to destroy us the first time, he brought back an army to try to do it all over again. So, we fought him off, and yes, we then chased around the North for years, but after we finally got him, we found ourselves at war with the Kingdoms, because they guaranteed him protection."

"What for?" Hiccup III chuckled, before picking up his walking stick and a log from the fire, "follow me."

"Why?"

"There's something I want to show you. And no, it's not dragons, you're not ready for that yet." He began walking inland more, forcing his grandson to get up and follow him.

They walked in silence for a few hundred yards before coming to a cave. Hiccup briefly stopped outside of it and gave it a once-over, as if making sure the cave was the correct one he wanted, then proceeded to walk inside, grandson following close behind. Inside, Hiccup IV saw stacks of crates and barrels, with boxes of papers everywhere. There were also some weapons, chests and even a few books out in the open. What tipped off Hiccup IV that something was weird was how it all appeared organized, like someone had left something here rather than abandoning it. His grandfather kept walking on, occasionally glancing at the seemingly endless crates and books stacked on the barrels and chests. He stopped at a particularly intact chest, almost no cobwebs or wear on it, unlocking it with a code and opening it. He handed his grandson the torch before rummaging through the papers, fingering them and squinting his eyes at the texts.

Eventually, he found the one he was looking for. He turned around, smiling, handing the letter to his grandson, "Here. Read it." Hiccup IV looked down at the letter, noticing the seal of the Kingdoms on the top left corner.

"What is this," he asked.

"Read, and see for yourself." So, Hiccup IV read it. At first, he saw, it just appeared to be a letter discussing business in the Archipelago, and since the date was the same as the date his father signed the peace treaty, he assumed it would be all about the peace that had been achieved with the pacification of the Berkian Vikings.

He was wrong.

After only four sentences discussing the peace with Vikings, the letter began speaking of creatures in the region that had long since gone underground, and that the task of "unearthing these monstrous demons could begin" with the surrender of the one group of people that knew of their existence.

The Berkians.

He kept on reading, and the letter spoke not of his grandfather's crimes, but instead of legends of a man who could control dragons, who could make them obey his every command, and rode on the back of the most powerful beast the civilized world had ever seen. It praised the decision to make an alliance with the "savage known as Drago" in order to join the war against the Vikings, and the difficulties faced by "the Berkian chief's crowning as the King of the Wilderwest by the united tribes of the Archipelago". It contained praises on the monks who wrote false stories about Hiccup's endeavors, and the bravery of those who lied to be portrayed of Hiccup's raids on the towns and cities, when in fact no innocents had been killed. Finally, it praised the bravery of Hiccup's second son, Asher, who effectively removed Hiccup from power and signed a humiliating peace treaty with the Kingdoms, turning it into a puppet state.

The back of the letter spoke of the campaign that razed what the author called, "New Berk", but more frightening was how Hiccup's daughter, an aunt that Hiccup IV never knew about, had been given to one of the reformed Viking chiefs, as a token of a new peace, an arranged marriage that she wanted no part in. It talked about methods that would be used to find the demons below the surface, all the while flooding Berk with Europeans and destroying Berkian culture while finding and collecting all information related to what was finally referred to as "dragons". There were other, lesser things that the letter talked about, like how the Berkians were only spared execution because it was thought when the dragons were found, they would be the ones to force the dragons to reveal themselves fully and possibly show the Europeans how they would be trained.

It referred to the campaigns to destroy the Vikings as a success not only in war, but also in burying history, as it stated the majority of the Europeans and many of the newer Vikings were being taught about how their previous ways were evil, burying any public rumor of dragons to all but a few.

But what disgusted Hiccup IV the most was how it spoke of his father, how his firstborn son would be indoctrinated in the ways of the Kingdom, who he would marry, where he would be allowed to travel and what he would be allowed to eat just after he was born. It even spoke of a plan for his own father to be coerced into mistreating his own son, because "it would be best, on the chance the demonic dragons reappeared, to have a member of the bloodline that endured similar hardships as the grandfather that would be able to calm the dragons and pacify them, leading to the next King of the Dragons to be a servant of the Righteous and Holy Kingdoms of the North".

His mind went blank. Everything he had been taught about all through his childhood was a lie. "Where did you get these," he asked his grandfather, his eyes never leaving the papyrus in his hand.

"When my son signed the treaty, many people were still on my side, and the letter, along with others, came into my possession not long after I was removed. This is just one of a number of letters like it that were sent to all the different lords and kings of the Kingdom. The reason I got it was because no one was going to know it went missing, and if they did, it would be blamed on bad communication lines," He pulled out an entire stack, "these are some other documents you should read."

And read them he did. Hiccup IV read all of the documents, some of them trade reports, others letters between generals, but all spoke of the same thing: the success of the occupation of the Viking Archipelago. It spoke of razing islands where resistance was among the highest, like islands called 'Berserker Island', 'Outcast Island', 'Wingmaiden Island' and 'Caldera Kay'. The larger islands further from Berk, at least the ones that were allied with the Berkians and crowned Hiccup III King of the Wilderwest, suffered executions and harsher penalties to prevent them from allying themselves with Berk, should Berk ever rise up.

These executions were made in the company of Hiccup and his advisors, the ones all of the letters blamed the start of the conflict on.

There were other, smaller things he read about, but none really put a dagger in his heart than the true history of what happened in the past, how nearly everyone he knew had lied to him.

Even his own father.

"Why…Why did my father do this?"

"Your father…He…Well, it's partly my fault really. You see, while I was off at war with Astrid and the others, I let an old friend named Gobber take care of him. While he was in his teens, Gobber disappeared, and from what I know, a traveling missionary watched over him. At the beginning, I was fine with it, but I should've listened to Astrid. That missionary filled your father's head with lies about how the Kingdoms were in the right and I was in the wrong, and eventually, convinced your father to sign a separate treaty and allowed the armies of the Kingdom to occupy the island. We were all forced to come home, surrender ourselves, and watch as our friends from other islands were killed. Only my closest friends and the Berkians were spared, but we were still forced to watch as the Kingdoms' soldiers put every nearly every non-Berkian to death. I remember them crowning my son immediately after that. He was only eighteen, not even married yet, and he had watched hundreds of people be put to death."

"Why would they do that?"

"So we would never rise up again. They wanted to control us, and they executed their plan perfectly," he lowered himself onto the dry cave floor, "You know, that was the last day I spoke to your father. We were all being escorted to our new homes on the far side of Berk, and he stopped me, asking me if I forgave him. I asked him if he would ever forgive himself, and that because of him, all of the blood of the innocents were on his hands."

"What did he say?"

"Nothing. There was nothing he could say." He paused, staring at the ceiling for a moment before saying, "I regret saying those words to him, though. While I was by no stretch of the imagination a good father, I always cared for him when I was home, both him, Stoick II and my daughter, Ingrid. Most of the time, when they were younger, I was the only one who went off to fight and Astrid stayed home, but eventually, we both were needed. Stoick II was sixteen and Ingrid eighteen, so they could come with us to war, but Asher was only ten, so Gobber watched him while we were gone, until Gobber disappeared at fourteen. The missionary watched him after that, but when Asher was 17, we came back and had to tell him that Stoick II, who was probably his best friend after that missionary, was killed." Hiccup III sniffed a little, and his grandson saw tears welling in his eyes. "That was the day I not only lost Stoick, but I also lost Asher…You know, Asher idolized Stoick growing up. He wasn't as strong as Stoick or Ingrid, and Astrid and I knew he wasn't going to be a warrior, but…well, he was one of the smartest Vikings I knew. After he lost Stoick, though, I never saw that flare again. He kept to himself, and all but ignored me. Still loved his mother, though."

"What happened after the executions? Between him and everyone?"

"Oh, all of the Berkians left shunned him, but soon we were the minority on the island. But, he frequently sought us out on the other side of the island, always wanting to talk to people that he had grown up with. A few were polite, most were not, but among almost everyone, it was the same: no one wanted to speak with him. Everyone closed their doors to him, except for one, his mother."  
"Really?"

"Oh yeah. While everyone else stayed away, Astrid just couldn't leave her son out there like everyone else. I never spoke a word with him, but he always came by in the evenings to talk with her. When you were born, he even brought you over to show to Astrid only."

"Really?"

"Oh, yeah. Astrid always admonished me for not shunning my son, but one of the only times I saw him after the executions was to see my newborn grandson." Tears that had begun welling in his eyes earlier began to slowly streak down from Hiccup's eyes. He wiped them quickly, but they kept coming, and even Hiccup IV felt his eyes beginning to wet.

He felt sorry for his grandfather, someone who was betrayed by one of his own, not on purpose but because out of blindness, Asher thinking he was doing the right thing, only to be betrayed and outcasted by the only people who had ever cared for him. It was a bad deal all around, and he was just one of the pawns in this game.

The two talked for a little more on what had happened in the aftermath of Berk's defeat, Hiccup IV learning about the other side of the Kingdoms' history, the side that not many people under their rule heard about. Eventually, they walked out of the cave together and were engulfed by the blackness of the night, the only source of light coming from the Northern Lights and the stars. They went back to the site of their campfire, which had long since gone out, but provided enough light between the embers and the sky to illuminate the area well enough. A silence overcame them, both awkwardly looking up at the stars, until Hiccup III spoke. "Do you want to know where it all began?"

"Huh?"

"Everything. The dragons, me, my father, the wars, do you want to hear about everything and where it all started?"

"Is it a long story?"

"Well, do you want to hear the whole story?"

"Yes, I would like to."

"Even if it involves dragons?" Hiccup IV grimaced, maybe his grandfather was finally losing his mind. He'd still not seen a dragon, and was starting to think this was all fake.

"Yes. Even if it involves…Dragons."

"Well…" He cleared his throat, "As I said before, there were dragons when I was a boy. Where they went, only a few know, and even fewer have even seen it. Dragons that were the size of mountains, so large that when they moved, the earth beneath them cracked and crumbled. Dragons so small that you wouldn't be able to even see them with your own eyes. Dragons of all shapes and sizes, colors and patterns you could never imagine! They all existed, every single one of them, right up here, alongside us. But not long ago, they decided to retreat into the earth, protecting themselves from our world, full of violence and hatred and war, back into their hidden world beneath the surface…"

"Ok, but what does that have to do with you? Or me?"

"Hold on, I'll get there," he paused, setting down his walking stick, "Alright. I'll keep it short.

"Back when humans were at war with the dragons, when I was fifteen years old, I was not big, strong and tough like your average Viking. I was skinny and thin," he looked down at himself and chuckled, "Well, skinnier and thinner. I was considered by the village to be a hiccup, which is normally what you would call the runt of the village. I didn't have many friends other than Gobber, I wasn't allowed to do what were considered the cool jobs at the time, and my dad as definitely let down by my slim chances of ever being the typical Viking. It made it worse that we all thought my mom was dead and-"

"Wait, what do you mean you thought your mom was dead?"

"Oh don't worry, I'll get to that later. Basically, I was the runt of the village and some people did not like me, and my father was not the most understanding man. All I wanted for the longest time was to be a Viking like the rest of them, but since I wasn't able to do it the normal way, I went about trying to be like one of them my own way. I invented new weapons and tools to try to impress them, but they only failed in the most spectacular ways. Eventually, I decided to try to take down a Night Fury, the most elusive of the dragons, using my inventions. During one of the nighttime raids, I actually managed to hit him, but I also managed to cause a massive amount of damage."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah, it was bad. I was reamed in front of the entire village and my father said that I didn't hit the Night Fury, not even Gobber believed me at this point. But knew, somewhere deep inside me, that I hit the Night Fury. So I went out, to the cove beyond Raven's Pointe, and there I found him. Wrapped up in my bolas was a Night Fury, and for a second, he already looked dead. But when he woke up, I knew that I had a to kill him to become one of the Vikings. I tried, but I just couldn't do it. I looked at him, and I saw myself. So, I let him go, and…well…he gave me a pretty big roar in my face. Hah, he gave me a pretty good scare. He ran off after that, and when I got back home, I found out from my dad that I started Dragon Training the next morning while he went on another expedition for the Dragon's Island."

"Is this the one that all of the dragons are hiding on right now?"

"No, this one is different. Anyway, Gobber said something the next day during Dragon Training that got me thinking, he said, 'Remember, a dragon will always…always…go for the kill'. So I started thinking to myself, 'Why didn't the Night Fury go for the kill?' I went back to the cove looking for him, and when I saw him, my question wasn't answered, but I saw that he had lost a tailfin from the bolas. That night, I read through the Book of Dragons, looking for any information about Night Furies, but I couldn't find any. The next day, I asked Gobber during Dragon Training, but I lost my focus in the ring and almost got Astrid and I killed. She was, of course, very mad, and told me to decide who's side I was on. So, that night, I took some fish to the cove, to try to help Toothless survive."

"Toothless?"

"Yeah. My Night Fury. Now, quiet, this is the best part. Anyway, I was taking him fish to help him survive, and maybe even become mutual acquaintances with him, so I gave him a fish, and noticed he had retractable teeth. I mean, how cool is that? Retractable teeth! But, he regurgitated half of the fish, almost like a peace offering, and had me eat it. Even though I accepted and, I still can't believe I did this, ate the raw fish, he was still weary of me. But, after seeing me draw a picture of him, he decided to try it, and began drawing a bunch of lines in the sand, making me dance around them. Then, when I ended up in front of him, I tried to touch him, but he was still weary. So, I decided to put my trust in him, closed my eyes, and stuck my hand out for him to decide. Then, he touched his face to my hand, creating a bond of trust we still have even today.

"So, that night, after hearing from Gobber about how 'a downed dragon is a dead dragon', I started experimenting with him on a series of prosthetic tails I made for him. In exchange for helping him fly again, he began to show me all of the little secrets and quirks dragons had, which I used in dragon training to survive. This led me to placing first though, and soon I was getting a lot of attention from the rest of the village, to the point where Astrid was jealous of me," he laughed a little to himself, "Anyway, Toothless and I took the first fully functional tail on a test flight, and that was the first time I ever flew. I still remember the excitement of going that fast and being that high in the sky. We almost died, and for the first time ever, I felt alive. Like, truly alive. There's no feeling like flying on the back of a dragon, weaving through the rocks and then rocketing into the clouds at unbelievable speeds, it's amazing. The freedom of it all is just astounding. It really is…

"Anyway, the next day, after the test flight, Astrid and I fought against a Gronckle to decide who would be the one to kill the dragon and finish first in Dragon training."

"What's a Gronckle?"

"Oh, it's a type of dragon. I'll show you all of this later. So, I won that fight, and I was given the 'honor' of being the one to kill the dragon. This made Astrid jealous, so she followed me to try to learn how I got so good at dragon training so quickly. She, umm…well, she met Toothless, and we, uhh, took her on a little romantic flight. But, during that, we discovered the Dragon's Nest and saw the Red Death, a dragon the size of a mountain that controls them.

"So, that night, I decided to try to show everyone on Berk that dragons could be tamed, but it backfired, and my Dad captured Toothless and found out that only dragons could find the way to the Dragon's Nest. He disowned me, and then left. I was hopeless, broken, and ready to just give up. But Astrid, she saw something in me that day, and convinced me to do something…well, she convinced me to do something crazy. I gathered up the captured dragons we had, she brought the other teens, and I showed them how to train dragons, and we rode them to the Nest to rescue Toothless and everyone there. We fought and it was a hard battle, but we came out on top, and everyone made it home. But, well, let's just say I became a matching set to Toothless," he held up his prosthetic, old and rusty, with a smile, "but by killing the Red Death, Toothless and I brought a new age of peace on Berk, and dragons and humans could live in peace, together." He leaned back, still smiling, and closed his eyes, as if imagining the site of Berk just after the peace with the dragons.

"So, what happened after that?"

"Well, there were some other enemies that we had to deal with, like the Outcasts, who became our allies, the Berserkers, who also became our allies, and the Dragon Hunters. We fought all around the Archipelago, going on adventures to places no one else had seen before. By the time we were your age, we had our own outpost on an island called the Dragon's Edge, fighting the Dragon Hunters Ryker, Viggo, Krogan and Johann. It was in my conflicts with these three that I decided to avoid war at all costs, and since I had a history of turning my enemies into friends, it also led me to believe that anyone could be convinced to join our side.

"A few years later, I would see how wrong that was. That was when I first heard of Drago, a man who would stop at nothing to enslave all dragons and use them to conquer all of the known world. I tried to get him to stop, but my actions would end up getting my father killed and nearly everyone else I knew, including Toothless. Drago controlled a Bewilderbeast, a large Alpha dragon that could control other dragons, which he used to control all of the dragons at the Sanctuary."

"What's the Sanctuary?"

"Oh, yeah! I didn't tell you! My mother, who we all thought had died, was alive. She had been living with the dragons in a fortress of ice, with another Bewilderbeast that protected them all. I met her, and she showed me some things about dragons I never knew. But…Drago, he nearly took that all away. He attacked the fortress, killed our Bewilderbeast and took control of all of the dragons. Worst yet, he used Toothless to try to kill me, but my Dad saved me, taking the shot himself. After that, Drago left to go to Berk and destroy it. Again, I was broken, but after we gave my father a burial at sea, sending him to the Valkyries to take his place in Valhalla, I realized, with the help of my mother and Astrid, what needed to be done."  
"How did you get back to Berk? You had no dragons, and I'm guessing there were no ships-"  
"Smart, aren't ya? Alphas can control dragons, but the only ones that they can't control were the babies, so we rode some of the babies back to Berk, where I got back Toothless and we fought the Alpha. Toothless I guess had been holding out on us up until that time, because he activated his Titan form, becoming the King of Dragons and besting the other Alpha. And so, after that, I was made chief of Berk, but we were still at war with Drago's army and the warlords that were taking his place."

"So, was that the end of it?"

"Oh, no. A little over a year later, the warlords brought on Grimmel, a dragon hunter who was famous for killing all of the Night Furies, all except Toothless. Grimmel raided Berk, and his attack was bad enough to force us onto a new island, one we called New Berk. So, while he was hunting us down, Toothless was being drawn away by a Light Fury, and soon we all began to see that there was no way the dragons were going to be able to stay with us. After we defeated Grimmel, we let the dragons go into hiding, and well…the rest I've already told you." Hiccup took a deep breath, and his grandson could see that tears were once again forming in his eyes.

"Grandpa, what's wrong?"

"Oh it's nothing, I'll…I'll be ok." It dawned on the both of them that this was the first time Hiccup IV had called his grandfather 'grandpa'. Hiccup IV immediately felt guilty. His grandfather had been dealing with these burdens for all those years, exiled on his own island, left to rot in the mountains of his home, his best friend gone and the rest of friends dead or missing.

It brought shame to Hiccup IV to have treated his grandfather like this. "I'm sorry," he said.

"What are you sorry for?"

"I…well…I didn't know about any of this. I know I was raised separate from you, and everyone on Berk kept you away from the village, but I knew you existed, I knew who you were, but I never sought you out, I never once tried to talk to you to get your side of the story, I never-"

"You were only doing what you thought was right. You shouldn't blame yourself for this."

"But I am. I did nothing to talk to or meet with you, even though it would've been the right thing to do. No one told you to make friends with a dragon, but it was the right thing to do. I had a chance to do that, to learn all of this earlier and make a real difference, but I didn't. I just, I just ignored you like everyone else."

"But, you know what? You didn't ignore me last night. Now, if there's one thing I've learned from my adventures throughout the world, it's that it's never too late to do the right thing. People will try to tell you what is right and what is wrong, but ultimately, it falls to you to make that choice. It was the right choice to save Toothless and end the war with the dragons. It was the right choice to embrace my role as chief of Berk after my father passed. And it was the right choice to let Toothless go and have a family, safe from the violence and destruction that civilization is bringing upon the earth."

"Yeah, I guess. But-"

"No buts. You made the right choice last night, and now, you are learning because of it. Think about it, if you had sought me out earlier, then you would've been found out by the guards, and there would have been severe consequences for both of us. Instead, we are here, on a secluded island, where no one can stop me from telling you the truth. Right?"

"Yeah, that's true. So…it all worked out in the end?"

"That's right. All you have to do is stay true to yourself and believe in yourself. Hold your friends close and love your family. Be the best version of yourself you can be. If you do these things, Hiccup, then everything will work out in the end. I mean, look at me letting Toothless go. If I had kept him around, war would've spread faster and further, and far more people would have been killed. Instead, the dragons can live peacefully apart from us and have their own families, safe from the fear of death by hunters. It was the hardest decision I had ever had to make, but it was the right thing to do."

"Yeah, you're right." He looked down, twiddling his thumbs and staring at the dirt beneath his feet. His head was still reeling from everything he had just learned this night. Finding out your entire life was a lie and you were on the side of evil really can take a toll on one's mind. "I just…How do I start…you know, being like you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You were a great leader. Even the Kingdoms acknowledged that you were a skilled tactician and fighter, but in your stories it's like you were a leader in every sense of the word. You said by my age you already were living on an outpost, fighting your own battles with your friends against an enemy a lot larger than you. I haven't done anything like that. I just…how do you become a good leader?"

"Well, one, it was a different time when I was your age. We were given a lot more freedom because we had fire breathing dragons to protect us. Our enemies were also not an entire nation, but roaming armies. Now, civilization has changed the world. Wars are fought not between cities, but between nations. Whereas our enemies rarely numbered in the few thousands, armies fielded today can range into the tens of thousands. There are stories I heard from the few traders that visited me on Berk that a land in the Far East that has armies fielding hundreds of thousands of soldiers, and Vikings in the Varangian Guard told of massive battles that blotted the earth. The world has changed, and there's no place in it for people like me anymore. And I have come to terms with this. I'm ok with it. Change is always happening around us, and I'm too old to keep up with it any longer."

"Come on, Grandpa, you know that's not true-"

"No, it's alright, I know it's true. I used to be the one leading the change, I used to be the progressive one advocating for change, but now, the world has changed too much, and I no longer recognize it. That means it's up to people like you to change it, to make the world a better place."

"I…I don't think I'm ready for that." Hiccup III laughed.

"Of course you're not! And that's ok! Fate has a way of preparing everyone for their destiny, mine merely started at a younger age. That doesn't mean the change you can bring about at a later age won't be greater. Everyone's journey begins at a different time, and often you never know it until you're already on it. Yours, then, may have begun, with what you've learned tonight. Right?"

"Yeah, yeah I guess so. You're right."

"I know I am. Now, get some rest. I suspect Toothless and company will be here tomorrow, they wouldn't just abandon us on an island for longer than a day or two." He took off his large overcoat and laid it down on the ground before slowly lowering himself onto it. Hiccup IV found a nice spot of grass and dirt. He folded his fur vest into a pillow and laid close to the warm embers, closing his eyes and relaxing. "You know, son, you remind me a lot of myself when I was your age."

"Really?"

"Oh yes," he heard his grandfather yawn, "You're worried about who you are going to be in this world, worried about impressing the people you will one day lead, and just trying to find out how you will fit into all of this. I was the same way. Just be patient. Everything will come in due time."

"Ok, Grandpa. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Hiccup."

* * *

 _The sky around him was dark, yet he felt like he could reach out and touch it yet. Thin wisps of white powder swirled around his outstretched fingers, curling and touching every nerve in his finger._

 _The cold air bit into him, sharp needles stinging his face but the fiery feeling in his stomach warmed him to the environment he was surrounded by._

 _And when he looked down, he saw a multitude of lights, reflections of the moon on the water, everchanging on the waves. He could see small islands shrink to the size of a coin as they rose higher and higher…_

 _Higher and higher…_

* * *

Hiccup woke up in a cold sweat.

Immediately he noticed the dark silhouettes of the rocks, outlined by the pale glow of moonlight, the orange, flickering embers of the fire still glowing, and the sleeping form of his grandfather next to it.

He took another second to look around, but he saw nothing around him. He laid his head back down and closed his eyes, but sleep kept evading him. He couldn't stop thinking about what his grandfather told him, and what the letters said. Part of him wanted to reject it, saying the letters were forged and that his grandfather was just trying to brainwash him.

But logic forced him to dismiss these thoughts. The letters were real, he had seen the seals on letters sent to his father and they matched. There was no way a letter of the Kingdoms would contain lies, and it seemed pretty authentic. His grandfather, too, seemed to be telling the truth. His story of what happened afterwards matched the documents and the letters he read in the cave, but he still just couldn't come to terms with it. _What am I going to do after this? I can't just go back to Berk and live like nothing happened_ , he thought to himself. At the very least, the island would be on alert as the prince had gone missing. He would be questioned. Thoroughly. The slightest of holes in his story would be exposed, and since no boats were missing, he wouldn't be able to say they just sailed off. What would happen to him when they found out he had been told the truth?

 _Nevermind that,_ he told himself, _you can worry about that later._ He sat up and rubbed his eyes. The moon and the stars were providing just enough light for him to see his surroundings, so he got up and began walking around for a little bit to stretch his legs. He picked up his fur vest and brushed some of the dust off of it before putting it on. _Maybe I'll go back to that cave, see what else is being hidden in there_. He began walking in the general direction of the cave, looking for the landmarks he remembered on the way there earlier, eventually stumbling across the entrance. Seeing he didn't have a torch, he grabbed an old torch behind a rock near the entrance and a few stones. Taking a piece of flint from his pocket, a little kindling and a cloth from his vest, he made a small torch and walked into the cave.

Again, he saw the barrels, the chests and the crates, all holding secrets from an age previously unknown to him. He wished he could pour through the notes and documents, the books and the letters all night, but instincts told him that what was really important must be near the back of the cave. So, he continued on down the cave passing the chest they had opened before. A few minutes later, he came to a large opening, the cave turning into a large cavern with what looked like a aqueduct running across the ceiling. He traced the contraption, and saw a system of gears and pulleys that extended it down from the very top to just above his head.

 _Is this some sort of lighting system?_ He walked over to a small bowl at the bottom of one of the pulleys, and took a whiff of the black liquid inside. "Oil," he noted. Cautiously, he lowered the torch into the bowl, a _whoosh_ coming from the oil as it ignited. Standing back, he noticed a small lever on the side of the pulley, and pulled it. The bowl immediately was sent to the top, dumped into a cauldron at the center of the room and sending the oil down the pipes and around the room. It was amazing watching as the whole room was lit up from the fire, illuminating everything in an orange glow. Finally, the circuit completed, and he saw a lone table and chairs right under the main cauldron, illuminated by what looked like a super strong glass at the base of the cauldron. He set the torch and in a holder. "Ok, now, where do I start," he muttered to himself.

Everything in the room was amazing. He had browsed through the Book of Dragons, fascinated by the amount of detail in it, awestruck at the variety and the uniqueness of all of the dragons. He pictured each of the illustrations as living, breathing creatures, flying high in the sky or cutting through the waters of the North Sea, faster than any ship. He read descriptions about the raw power they each possessed, from explosive fireballs and scalding water to poison and supersonic booms. _No wonder my grandfather wanted to keep this a secret_ , he thought to himself, _everyone on the mainland would want to use these creatures as weapons_.

He looked through the maps his grandfather made, and was amazed at how far it stretched. He must have had to unfold it a thousand times on the floor before it reached its full size. It stretched from Berk in the middle all the way to what was labeled as the Far East, with mountains drawn in as reaching above the clouds, as far south as the desert kingdoms of the Muslim lands. But it was the Western part of the map that caught his attention. On it, Hiccup had drawn in the crude beginnings of a new continent, with the crude labeling of Vinland. So, it seemed that not only did his grandfather prove that dragons could live among people, but he discovered a new continent, one beyond the point most people believed marked the end of the world.

There were other amazing things, too. While these were not on par with the Book of Dragons or the Map of the World, it was still very impressive and intrigued the curious Hiccup. There was a book full of inventions, both weapons and non-weapons, that surpassed anything he had seen before. There was a book full of sketches and drawings, both of people and landmarks. Some of the landmarks and people he recognized, but most were new to him. He tried as hard as he could to commit all of it to memory, but there was too much in here for one night.

Feeling exhausted, he set down the latest book he had found on Berkians and their dragons, a training manual, and leaned his head against the back of a chair. He glanced around the room, looking at all of the artifacts and chests before resting them on what looked like a large wardrobe flanked by several chests significantly larger than the others. He walked over to them and began opening them, not expecting what he found inside.

Inside were suits of armor. Not the traditional ones the soldiers of the Kingdoms used, but lightweight, leather armor combined with scales of some kind, even helmets. He opened up all of them, taking note of the different styles and composition of the sets.

Removing each one from the chest, he saw more clearly the layout of each piece and got an idea of how his grandfather looked when he was the same age. He examined each one, admiring the craftmanship not only in the metalworking, but also the leather work, the sewing, every detail carefully planned and executed in a fashion that he had never seen before. Everyone was something he had never seen before, and part of him wanted to try them on.

"Well, why not," he told himself. They were in great condition and his grandfather probably wouldn't mind. It's not like he'd be using it anyway.

It took him a while, but finally, he found the one suit that fit him better than the others. There were no scales of armor on this one, as it was mostly leather, but he noticed the gauntlets and the shoulder pads of it were made of a thicker leather. The suit itself was filled with compartments, and the pants were full of gadgets like a dial on the belt, some loops of leather than connected to a large compartment extending along his sides to his armpits, and some sort of holster for something, not a sword but almost like an object.

After putting it all on and testing the fit, he grabbed his grandpa's sketchbook and flipped through the pages, wondering how his grandfather looked at his age in this armor. He found the page that showed Astrid and Hiccup together, and guessing from the date, his grandfather was about eighteen at the time it was drawn.

Same age, same fit. Weird.

He turned around and observed himself in the mirror, looking at how well he fit into it and how it looked. He glanced back and forth between the mirror and the drawing, noticing how similar he and his grandfather looked. The hair, build, height were all basically the same. The face was nearly identical. The only difference was that Hiccup had no scar on his chin and no freckles and had both legs. He looked down at his two feet, imagining what it would be like only having one foot. He slipped on his boots and tried walking around in it, noting that he was able to move pretty well with it on. He explored the chests a bit more before finding something new that he hadn't seen before, a shiny, cylindrical object with a few buttons on it and a dragon's head as the cross guard.

Curious, he pressed the buttons, but nothing happened, to his disappointment. He did notice that it was about the same size as the holster, so he clipped it in, a perfect fit. "Guess I'll find out what that's for later," he told himself, "Ooh! Wonder if grandpa will let me keep this armor!" He assumed he wouldn't but he would try to make a case for it. After all, no one was using it, it looked pretty cool, and it didn't have any stuff about dragons on it, so it could be ok, right?

He picked up his still-burning torch and walked out of the cavern, pulling another leave that he saw snuffed the flames by closing everything. _Ok, my grandpa was super smart_ , he thought as he walked out of the cave.

When he made it outside, however, something felt different. He couldn't really put his finger on it, but something was off. He stopped and looked around. Nothing had changed, but something told him that he was no longer the only one on the island with his grandfather. Patting down the suit, he found a dagger held in his left gauntlet and pulled it out, ready to run or fight if need be.

Once he got back to the campsite, the first thing he saw was that his grandfather was missing. The large fur coat he wore was still on the ground, but his grandpa was not on it. Frantic, he looked around for a sign that maybe his grandpa went to stretch his legs, or maybe he went to the bathroom, but the tracks led to nowhere. He began to yell out, "Grandpa? Grandpa!"

"Grandpa, where are you?!"

 _Grrrrrrrrrrr_

The sound froze Hiccup in his place. The hairs on his neck spiked up, goosebumps formed all along his limbs, his breathing quickened and his heart felt like it was about to burst. His hand started shaking, and he had to drop his torch to steady the dagger with the other hand.

 _Grrrrrrrrrrr_

There it was again. A low, guttural sound, like something coming from a dog, but larger and more menacing. Slowly, taking deep breaths, he began to turn around. "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee…" he muttered to himself, although he was unsure if repeating Hail Mary would protect him. Ever so slowly, he brought his eyes forward to where his ears had heard the growl from. "Holy Mary, Mother of God-"

 _Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr_

"Pray for us sinners-"

 _GrrrrrrrrRRRRRRR_

It was getting longer and louder, increasing in volume.

"Now and at the hour of our death!" He brought forward the dagger and pointed it at the rustling bushes, expecting at any moment something was going to jump out at him. And as the growl got louder, his voice started to shake and also get louder, "Hail Mary, full…f-f-full of grace-"

 _GrrrrRRRRRRRRR_

"The L-l-l-Lord is with thee, blessedarethoughamongstwomenandblessed-"

 _GRRRRRRRRRRRRR_

The rustling was increasing, and he heard footsteps pounding behind the bush.

"-isthefruitofthywombJesus! HailMaryMotherofGodprayforussinnersnowandinthe-"

 _GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR ROAR_

"-hour of our death!" He braced himself to fight as whatever was hiding in the bushes prepared to reveal itself.

From within the bush, a pair of dark, green eyes cut through the dark, with black slits locking right onto Hiccup. The growling ceased, and it pounced.


	3. Chapter 3: New Friendships

Chapter 3: New Friendships

 **A/N: Woah! Another chapter? Yup! I think we all know what this chapter is going to be about XD. Also, a note: I made a mistake about Hiccup IV's age, saying he was twenty, but he was meant to be 18, as the rest of the story rests on him being 18. So, I've made the necessary changes. Also, dragon sounds will be marked like ~this~ for dialogue purposes. I'm only testing it out, if it doesn't look good I will update the chapter and change it, but I'm trying it so I don't have to write "the dragon did this" all of the time.**

 **Again, there are spoilers for THW in here sprinkled in, so if you haven't seen the movie yet, I would recommend seeing it.**

* * *

The black shadow leaped out from the bushes in front of Hiccup, and in less of a second he saw immediately the characteristics of the creature: it was black, bat-like wings, four legs and a single row of sharp, white teeth.

It was a _dragon_.

Reacting completely on instinct, Hiccup pivoted his left leg clockwise and ducked out of the way of the leaping dragon, feeling its hot breath hit his back as it soared over top of him. As he was completing his pivot, facing the dragon as it landed in front of him, something hard hit him square in the back. The force knocked the knife out of his hand and knocked him to the ground, defenseless.

Remembering from his training that the ground was never a good place to fight from, he threw himself forward from the ground into a sprint. He had lost his knife, and now had no way to defend himself.

He needed to run for his life.

Behind him, he heard a roar again, although this time he noticed it was a bit softer than the previous roars were before. He heard the stomping footsteps for a few strides before a gust of wind hit him in the back, not enough to knock him over but letting him know that the dragon had taken to the air.

Thinking quickly, he made a hard right turn around a tree, hearing the swoosh of the wings as they passed him by. _Don't look back_ , something in mind told him, _just keep running_. Sprinting through the brush, he soon couldn't hear the beat of the dragon's wings anymore, not even any footsteps. Running for a few more meters, he quickly dove behind a nearby tree and scurried to hide against it. Taking a few seconds to get his breath back, he cautiously peeked around the corner, his eyes scanning the dark underbrush for any signs of movement.

Luckily, he saw none. "Woah," he muttered, bending over to try to calm his racing heart, "That was…woah." He mentally went over the dragon's appearance, trying to match it to the book, but nothing he could remember matched the book. It was too dark to make out any significant details. _Maybe I can ask Grandpa_ , he thought.

"Oh no." His grandpa. Frantically, he tried to think about what could've happened to him. No blood, and the tracks didn't reveal any signs of a fight. Could he have just left?

He contemplated heading back towards their campsite, but going back towards the camp meant possibly coming across the unknown dragon again. He could go around, the island didn't that big, but even then it would take hours. He could also head towards the thicker underbrush near the base of the cliffs and make his way back there, it would probably give him more cover in case the dragon came back. Or, as a very last resort, he could make for the cliffs and climb to safety, leaving his grandpa behind to fend for himself.

"Well, crap. You've gotten yourself between a rock and a hard place thi-"

 **WHAM!**

He felt two hard, scaly paws connect with his right shoulder and ribs, hitting him hard. It knocked him off of his feet, throwing him rapidly into the ground. He let out a quick yell of surprise and pain. He felt claws on his neck and right shoulder, along with the headache from the whiplash and impact blurring his vision for a few seconds. He closed his eyes and grabbed at the claws, screaming for help, but stopped when he heard a low, guttural sound and a gust of hot breath hitting his face. His heart began racing, he started breathing erratically, and his mind was becoming frantic, looking for ways to escape. He opened his eyes, wanting to see the beast that was likely going to end his life. And as his eyes adjusted, he saw it.

Eyes that were a forest green, its pupils no longer slits but rounder, with a low guttural humming coming from its throat. It had two large flaps on top of its head, like ears, but he couldn't tell. It had a head that triangular, with a snub nose, looking almost like a cross between a cat and something else. It had four legs, and its wings were attached to its back, a long tail sweeping behind it. And by the looks of it, there wasn't a prosthetic on it.

It was a Night Fury. And if he wasn't pinned down by it, about to get killed, he would've been awestruck by how deadly and amazing it looked.

The dragon continued in its guttural humming, sniffing him and looking over him, baring its teeth after smelling the armor he was wearing. _Not good_. It started smelling his hair, making some high pitch warbling sound, while it did so, until it locked eyes with him.

Hiccup was not sure what the dragon was planning on doing now. It appeared as if it was looking into his soul. After what felt like an hour, it shifted its weight to its hind legs and opened its mouth, breathing in as it did so.

Hiccup closed his eyes, silently praying and hoping that, if it was his time to die, it would be a quick one. Squeezing them shut, he steeled himself to go out with some dignity. He noticed the dragon was no longer inhaling, and prepared himself.

Instead of feeling a flame upon his face, he felt something coarse, wet and slimy rub up against his cheek. _Is this thing licking me?_ He put his hands up to try to stop it from licking, but the Night Fury's saliva kept getting in his eyes, and he couldn't rub it out and stop the licking at the same time. From beside him, he heard a voice call out, "Ah, come on now-ok ok ok-stop, come on, stop!" He felt the pressure from the Night Fury being lifted off of him, and a series of growls, warbles and trilling, almost like two dragons were talking to each other. He rubbed the saliva from his eyes, wiping his hands on the armor as much as he could before opening his eyes.

Above him, he saw his grandfather with his hand outstretched, a small grin on his face. "Well, I see you met my best friend's grandson."

"Huh? He's…uhh…he, uhhh…"

"Alright, come down, son. Just take a deep breath, you'll be fine." Behind him, the two dragons seemed to be in conversation.

"He's…They're…dragons…"

"Yes, yes they are-"

"Night Furies…"

"Woah, how did you know that? I only just told you about dragons, how did you know what type of dragon they were?"

"Uh, I might have snuck back into the cave, the one we were at earlier, and read the books you had in there."

"Really? How many books did you read?"

"A few," was his first answer, but upon seeing his grandfather smile, he assumed that he would be able to tell the truth and not be rebuked. "Ok, I read a lot. Several, some of them about dragons, some of them about the history of Berk, and some about your adventures from Berk to the Edge and after Drago, and maybe one or two that had drawings and sketches and stuff."

"Wow. Fast reader, huh?"

"Yeah, well, I was curious, and…"

"And what?"

"It was…It was really cool. I mean, the stuff you did, the things you built, the people you met, the places you've been…It's…It's amazing!"

"Oh, well thank you, I didn't know anyone-"

"No, really, its so cool! My dad has done nothing and is basically a puppet, but you…you actually went out into the world and created real change, on a massive scale! And you learned so much from so many different people, and…it seems like you've done everything. And in only a few years."

"Well, my time from when I was 15 to when I was 22 were probably the toughest times I've ever had in terms of failures and learning. The strain, the toll it took on my friends and I, both scaly and non-scaly, was immense. Now, I know what you're thinking…"

"How is the time you had dragons harder than when you didn't have dragons?"

"Because at that point, we already knew what we were doing. We already knew how to raid, how to fight, how to plan and how to attack and defend, we all had learned those things by that time and it was kind of muscle memory. But, when we were younger, younger than you, we had to learn how to survive on our own. We had to build an outpost and stayed there for more than a year, fighting an enemy that was better equipped and supplied than we were, as well as twice our age and way more experienced. In fact, Viggo, Ryker, Johann and Krogan taught me more than anyone else other than Toothless and my father, because they exposed me to the different kinds of leaders I would face: ruthless, violent leaders and cunning, intelligent, patient leaders."

"Yeah…"

"You know, by the looks of it, it seemed you were looking at more than just the books that were in there," he unholstered the sword form Hiccup's leg and examined the armor on Hiccup. "You like this kind of armor?"

"Oh, yeah."

"Yeah? That's good," He took a step back, looking at his grandson, "You know, you remind me of myself at that age. In fact, you look a lot like me, too."

"Weird, huh?" Hiccup IV had to smile a little bit.

"Yeah." A moment of silence came between them, Hiccup III looking at his grandson standing there, smiling at him, almost like he was proud that his grandson was wearing his armor, armed with his sword, reading his books. It's the way things could've been.

In Hiccup's mind, it's the way things should've been.

Behind the two of them, the dragons continued to make more and more noise, finally catching their attention. "What's going on back there," Hiccup IV asked, "Is there something wrong?"

"Oh, no, that's nothing. Don't worry about that," a smile began to emerge once again on his grandfather's face, "So, you met the dragons, huh?"

"What? No, just the younger one."

"Hmm, ok. Well, how about this? The sun is about to come up, and Toothless hasn't eaten yet. Since the fish are most active at dusk, how about he and I leave to get breakfast, and leave with the younger dragon?"

"Wait WHAT? For WHAT?"

"So you can meet the dragon, don't worry," he laughed.

"So…you…what…wait, no, he tried to kill me!"

"Oh, come on, he wasn't trying to kill you! He was just aggressively showing you his affection and how excited he was to meet you!"

"He tackled me! He, like, completely laid me out!"

"Ok, I admit, he was a little overzealous with it all, but trust me! This will be good!"

"Wait, why do you want me to meet the dragon if he's just going to go back into his…what was it? The hidden world?"

"The reason is why WOULDN'T you want to meet a dragon before it disappears? All of your life, you've lived without knowing of the existence of these magnificent creatures, and I'll admit that was because of me and the Kingdoms keeping a secret for our own reasons, but now you have the chance to actually meet a living dragon! Also, he's not going to go back to the Hidden World for some time, at least Toothless isn't."

"Why?"

"Well, uhh, that's a complicated question."

"I have time…"

"The short answer is because I don't have much time left, and since this is the first time Toothless has seen me in decades, I'm assuming he sensed something was wrong and now he's going to try to make up for all that missed time until it's my time to go."

"You're…dying?" For some reason, this hit Hiccup IV harder than he expected. True, he had only known his Grandpa for not even a full day, yet it still hit him hard.

"What's wrong?" His grandfather noticed the souring of his grandson's face.

"It's just…You're probably the coolest and most interesting person I've ever met, and you're my grandfather…"

"Well, thank you for the compliment-"

"But I just wanted…well, hoped, we could spend more time together."

"Oh. Ok."

"Yeah. Sorry," Hiccup IV rubbed his shoulder, trying to avoid the awkward moment he just created.

"Hey, you know what? I've still got some time left, and I've got nothing to do…"

"Wait, wait no no no, I've…"

"You have what?"

"I…I have to become a king soon, I have to be married soon, I haven't even finished my training yet-"

"None of that matters. In my experience, going out on your own and learning from mistakes you've made in real life is a better teacher than reading about it in some book. You can't be expected to be a good leader without any experience in these kinds of things."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that right now, since you're stuck with me indefinitely, you're going to be learning stuff that your instructors are never going to teach you. It doesn't matter how many languages you can speak if you can't command another person's respect."

"Ok, yeah, but…"

"And you don't even like that stuff I'm assuming! Ok, tell me if I'm wrong: You don't want to become a king yet, if at all, but you want to explore beyond your territory, learning about new and exciting places and people you've never heard of, see the world with clear and open eyes. You want to live an adventurous life because for eighteen years you've been tied down to Berk, yet there's this feeling inside of you that hungers for more, a hunger urging you to search and go out into the wide open world, searching for something you don't even know yet. Am I right?"

"I…Well…"

"Alright, how about this? You don't know what you want in life yet, correct?"

"Right."

"Ok, now I'm going to do exactly what my father did before I and four of my closest friends left to explore: Think of the most important in the world to you. Ask yourself, honestly, how far you would be willing to go to get it. What would you risk?" Hiccup IV stood there, knowing exactly what his answer was, but not wanting to say it for fear of never finding it. "Well, what is it you want?"

"I…I don't know."

"That's true. I can see it in your eyes that's not true. Don't be embarrassed, you can tell me."

"Well…" He took a deep breath and exhaled, "I want to go out into the world, yes. I've always thought there's more to this world than just a few islands and the Kingdoms and the mainland. I've always wanted to go out and see the rest of the world, experience new things, meet new people, live without any responsibilities of a king. I want to explore uncharted waters and lands, I want to live on the razor's edge, and now that dragons exist, I want to learn all about them. I want to learn things I had never known previously or would have never known, I want to learn more about the people who came before me and changed the world. I want… I want to find my own way in life. Ever since I first heard about you and your raids, I felt like something out here was pulling on me, trying to drag me out of Berk, and I used to think it was just the guilt of being related to you, but now I know its not. It's…It's this feeling of not knowing what's out there and wanting to know, to go as far as my curiosity takes me. I don't want what my father wants for me or what the Kingdoms want for me, I don't even know what I really want yet. But what I do know is I want to find it, I want to go out and find that thing, the purpose of why I'm here. The most important thing to me right now is finding a purpose in my life, something I can believe in without ever having to doubt myself, something I can fight for, and something I can carry with me for eternity. I want to find out who I am, what my purpose is, and I'm willing to risk everything I have for that. I swear." The two of them stood there, one breathing a sigh of relief, anxious about the other's reaction but excited because he finally got to tell someone what he wanted to do in his life.

The other? He couldn't be more proud. Here was his grandson, someone he'd never thought he'd meet, telling him that he wanted to go into the world and find out who he was. The same thing he'd wanted and found in his life, now he could help someone find that same thing. Here before was a red-haired, lanky eighteen year old who wanted to explore and find out more about the world, willing to leave home indefinitely and sacrifice his birthright for it.

In almost every way, he was looking at himself in the past, a mirror image of himself, wanting to right the wrongs done to him and others while trying to find what he was meant to do in life. And, judging by how quickly and eagerly he had taken to learn about dragons, he figured that it probably had something to do with them.

It made him proud knowing that even when he was gone, there would be someone who would know of the existence of the dragons, and possibly even protect them from the dangers of civilizations and humanity.

"So…Did I answer your question?"

"Yes. Yes, you did."

"Ok. That's good, because…"

"And with that, I'm going to leave-"

"Wait, what?"

"-because it is now your turn-"

"No, no no no where are you going?"

"-to make some new friends, ones you didn't think existed-"

"Grandpa, this isn't funny!"

"I'm going to leave you with some fish," he threw down some supplies and a bag of fish, freshly salted, "Alright, you two kids have fun!" He called as he walked through the tree line, soon replaced by a bounding, excited and happy jet black dragon. Behind the tree line, not a few moments later, he saw a black blur shoot off from the ground into the sky, roaring as it went.

* * *

 _It's going to be a long day, Hiccup._

His grandfather had only left a few minutes ago, but sitting in front of a Night Fury made it feel like hours. On the bright side of being left alone with this dragon staring at him, he was finally able to see in it it's full glory. The light of dawn beginning to come over the horizon behind them made it easier to see the dragon's characteristics, like the two earlike flaps on top of its head, the nubs underneath them, the slim frame of the dragon, the long tail, wings, all of it.

Under normal circumstances, he would be in awe of the appearance of the dragon, stunned merely that it existed. As if the existence of dragons wasn't enough of a shocker, he would admire the dragon's regal appearance, how it sat up completely straight, like the statues of the lions near his house, signs of royalty, power and respect.

However, given that not long ago he was running scared from it, along with the fact that the dragon nearly dislocated his shoulder and almost destroyed his ribcage, he decided that it would be better to be a little more cautious of the dragon.

He sat on a log, about 10 feet from the dragon, a staring contest between the two. Something was off about it though. Now that he could see the dragon, it seemed a little more scared of him than before. _Wonder if it was because another one told it off, or something_. He analyzed the dragon a bit more. It was not a large dragon, it's body was about the size of a smaller cow or a very large man, but the wings and tail made it look a lot bigger. He remembered from the Book of Dragons reading that the Night Fury wasn't the largest of dragons, but he still surprised that it was smaller than he would've thought. _Maybe they grow up to be really big, or something_.

A few minutes of the staring contest had passed before the dragon made a small warbling sound. It laid down and chirped at the bag at Hiccup's feet, looking between him and the bag intently.

It took Hiccup a few seconds before he realized, "Oh! A-a-a-are you hungry? You want some, uhh…" he opened the bag, "want some fish?"

The dragon warbled and sat up, sticking it's tongue out and wiggling its tail. _Is it smiling at me?_

"Ok, well uhh… here ya go!" He tossed a fish towards the dragon, watching it catch the fish, chew it a few times, then throw it up in the air and swallow it whole. It was weird, yet somewhat cool to watch. "You want another one?" He held the fish out tentatively, watching how it slunk towards him, cautiously opening its mouth.

Then, in the blink of an eye, teeth shot out from its gums, taking the fish whole. "Woah!" Hiccup pulled his hand back the second the fish was gone, not wanting to risk losing a limb, but he smiled. "Forgot you had retractable teeth, I got that from my grandpa's book." He pulled another fish out, tossed it in the air and watched as the dragon jumped and caught it, swallowing the fish before its feet even touched the ground. "You know, you're actually pretty cool," he said, about to reach down for another fish when he heard a weird noise come from the dragon. He looked up, noticing how its throat was contracting with the sounds. "Hey, are you ok? Are you choking?" He hoped it wasn't choking, because he really didn't know how to save a choking _dragon_.

He took a few steps towards it, about an arms-length away, when it turned towards him. He noticed that its eyes had turned to slits, which worried him, and slowed his approach. The dragon then turned to him, and what happened next was something that Hiccup didn't read in the Book of Dragons.

It regurgitated half of the fish, right onto his feet. "Ew! Oh, come on!" He kicked the fish off of his feet.

The dragon hissed at him, before grabbing the fish in its gums and dropping it on his feet again.

"What do you want me to do for this?" He gingerly picked up half of the fish, "Do you not like this or something?"

The dragon warbled, nodding its head to the fish and to him.

"What?"

Its eyes shot from him to the fish and back once again.

"Wait…no…"

The dragon licked its lips.

"No, oh, come on!" He smelled the fish, "Oh come on! This was in your throat! You ate this!"

 _~warble~_

"No! Here, you eat the rest of it!"

~ _grrrrrr~_

"Oh, come on! Man…" He took one more whiff of the fish, "Come on Hiccup, why are you even thinking about doing this. Oh, yeah, because there a couple tons of mythical dragon in front of you telling you to do it. Ok, ok ok ok okokokok-" He took a breath, closed his eyes, and took a bite of the fish.

The taste was probably the single worst thing he'd ever had. He almost spit it out the second he bit into it. "Mmmmmmm," he held the rest of the fish out towards the dragon. _Maybe it'll take the rest of it and then I can spit it out later_.

The dragon, unfortunately, did not want the rest of it. It swallowed at him.

"HMM?" _Oh, come on! You actually want me to swallow it_?

~ _Chirp~_

He started to swallow the fish, but it came back up. Holding his mouth, he forced the rest of the fish down. It was definitely the worst tasting thing he had ever had. "Bleh, that was so bad. Just…ugh, disgusting." He went to go get some water from his grandpa's supply bag, noticing how the dragon followed at him at a distance. He drank some water, realizing it wasn't helping his stomach digest the fish and decided to remove the armor so he could air out. He removed the leather armor, leaving only his shirt, pants and boots. He turned around, expecting to see the dragon ready to ambush him with affection, but was surprised to see that it was backing up a little, sniffing loudly as it did so. "What's wrong," he took a few steps towards it, but it backed away, almost like it was uncertain of who he was. "Hey, hey, it's ok…Wait, why am I comforting you, I barely know you."

Then it dawned on him. He looked back towards the armor then back towards the dragon. "Oh, I get what's going on. You were more comfortable around me because you recognized the smell of the armor! You associated me with my grandpa!"

~ _warble_ ~

"Ok, so you…don't really know me yet, huh?" He slowly took another few steps towards the dragon, which seemed to trust him a little more at least. He took another fish and gave it to the dragon, which it seemed to appreciate at least, although he was really hoping that it wouldn't make him eat another part of the fish. He sat down on nearby log, letting the dragon get comfortable around him before going any further. "You know, I think there was something about this in the Book of Dragons…"

The dragon cocked its head. "Ok, so let's see…" He closed his eyes, trying to remember what the book said about Night Furies until he heard a scrambling of feet in front of him. He opened his eyes to see the dragon was gone, but after a cursory glance around, he saw it hiding behind a rock. "What are you up to?" He walked towards it, seeing how it crouched slightly as he got closer and got down from the rock. "Are you playing hide and seek or something?" As soon as he said that, the dragon ran out from the rock and ran behind a tree, it's tail poking out from behind it. Not two seconds later, it changed spots again, this time running from behind the tree to go behind a small boulder a little further back.

Hiccup walked towards the dragon, still unsure of what was going on, but once he decided that it wasn't any sort of trap, he became more enthusiastic.

The gap between him and the dragon began closing until Hiccup was running after the Night Fury, which it seemed was not as nervous of him as before. As the two ran through the forest together, the Night Fury looked back at him, tongue lolling out of his mouth, eyes wide and full of happiness, like a big, scaly puppy. Hiccup himself laughed, jumping over the logs and branches, squirting around the trees and rocks as he ran after the dragon.

Eventually, the two of them came to a clearing, surrounded by some very large stones that seemed almost unnatural. There were no trees in the clearing, and the stones were set upon what looked like giant mounds of dirt and rocks. Hiccup, taking a moment to gather his breath, was intrigued by the stones. He moved closer to investigate them, noticing something different about the mounds and rocks than the ground, until a low growl brought him back to the Night Fury.

"What?" He resumed walking towards the mounds.

~ _grrrrrrrr~._ He stopped again.

"What is it? Do you not want to go near these? Is that it?"

~ _huff~_

"You know, this would be really easy if you could, I don't know, speak English. Or, I guess it would be easier if I understood you. God, can you imagine if dragons had their own, tangible language?"

 _~warble?~_ The dragon lifted its head and tilted its face, ears perking up. It reminded Hiccup of a confused puppy.

"You know, like if dragons like you could speak in a real language, as opposed to growling and roaring and moaning and warbling and stuff like that. What would call a language like that?"

 _~wuff~_

"Dragonic? Draconic? Dragish? Wait, hold on, I got it!" The dragon perked its ears up again and the corners of its mouth lifted, almost like it was excited. "Are you ready?"

 _~warbles in excitement~_

"We'll call it…Dragonese! Good, right?"

 _~huff, grrrrrrrr~_

"What? You don't like it? Oh, come on! It's good! It's cheesy, but it's a good one!"

 _~warble~_

"You don't think you can do better?"

 _~laugh~_

"Oh, what, is that a challenge? You don't even know what a language is!"

 _~chirp~_

"Alright, first let me show you what a language is," he ran off to the treeline and grabbed a stick from the ground to draw letters in the dirt. The Night Fury seemed interested in the drawing, and walked over a little closer to him. "See, this one here is 'A', it's the first letter of the alphabet, then there's 'B'…" He went through all of the letters of the alphabet, scribbling them in the sand in a circle. "Now, do you think you can do that?"

To his surprise, the Night Fury seemed to laugh at the challenge, running off to the tree-line and snapping a branch off of a low tree, trotting as it came back. The branch it had was at least a time and a half the dragon's length. "Are you sure that's not too big for you, bud?"

 _~warble, huff~_

"Ok, well then show me what you got!" What happened next astounded Hiccup. While he expected not to see any letters being written, the Night Fury seemed to grasp the concept of individual characters in the alphabet, and made twenty six unique scribbles in the sand below Hiccup's alphabet, dropping the stick when it was done. "Ok, so…wow…That's…That's really impressive!"

 _~happy warble~_

"Wonder if you're any good at drawing…Here, look here," he walked over to an empty spot towards the middle of their dirt alphabets, "Can you draw though? I used to dabble in it, so let's see if I can't best a dragon…no, let's see if I can't best a _Night Fury_." He began sketching the outline of the Night Fury's head, taking note of the floppy ear flaps, the stubby, wide nose, the eyes and the wide, grinning mouth and five minutes later, he was finished with the sketch of the head of the unholy offspring of lightening and death itself.

~ _long warble~_

"You like it?"

It looked at him. _~happy bark~_

"Great, glad you like it! The head is a little too narrow for my taste though, also your eyes were a little tou-hey what are you doing?"

While he had been critiquing his own sketch, the Night Fury seemed to like enough to try his own drawing, picking the large branch back up and making these large, sweeping lines in the dirt, groaning, warbling and chirping as it did so. Hiccup watched the dragon sweep all around him, hopping and bounding on four paws, standing up to two paws, bending his neck to and fro to get everything right.

Hiccup watched, fascinated by this creature who he had only met last night, and now, as dawn was approaching and the first hints of the sun approaching the horizon, was showing signs of intelligence on a scale that he had never seen before. It grasped the concept of a language, it was drawing, not to mention its responses and the sounds it made in response to Hiccup's comments were to him a form of a vague understanding of what he was saying, not on a basis of a few simple words, but nearing a conversational level. It was astounding, and he smiled, "And to think that you guys hide yourself from the rest of the world. You're so amazing and fascinating, why would you do that?"

 _~warble?~_ It looked up at him, the stick still in his mouth, white teeth having shaved a lot of the bark off of the branch.

"Nevermind, that's something for another time. Are you almost done!"

 _~ruff~_ It quickly made another few sweeps with the branch, almost smacking him in the head with the leaves, before setting it down outside of the circle of letters to admire his work. He seemed impressed with it, even nodding in approval.

Hiccup, on the other hand, could not tell what it was. "What…in the…" He scratched his chin, looking around at the lines trying to make out what it was supposed to be, but he couldn't tell. He took a step forward to try to get a new angle-

 _~grrrrrr~_ Hiccup immediately retreated back to his original spot, looking at the dragon's eyes turn to slits, like it was offended.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what it is! I just need to see it from a different perspective…" He took a step forward again…

 _~grrrrrr~_ The dragon seemed angry again, and Hiccup retreated once again.

"Oh, come on! I don't know what you want me to-" He took a step again, making the dragon angry again, before it clicked. He looked down and saw that his foot was on one of the lines the dragon had drawn, and he saw what the dragon was mad about. "Ohhhh, you don't want me stepping on your work?"

 _~croon~_ The Night Fury seemed satisfied with that, and backed off a little. Deciding to make his way out by playing the dragon's little game. He put his left foot between two of the lines on a spot of untouched ground, pivoting his right foot to another free spot. He repeated this over and over, sticking his tongue out in concentration with his head fixated in the ground. _Ok, so if I put the left here, right foot here, go here, there, then I go this way…_

Eventually, after dancing his way around the ring, his right foot made it outside of the Night Fury's puzzle. _Finally,_ he thought to himself. He carefully brought his left foot out, and looked up, expecting to see the dragon staring at him, but he didn't see the dragon and didn't know where it had gone to.

Until, that was, he felt a breath of warm air hit the back of his neck. He turned around to see the Night Fury sitting on his tail and two hind legs staring right at him with these big, green eyes that looked happy, but a jumping around kind of happy. It was excited, but it was restrained in that the Night Fury seemed to know this was something very important, and it should therefore not act like a hatchling.

Hiccup didn't see it instantly, but soon, he caught on, his eyes widening slightly upon realizing how close he was to the dragon. Only then did it occur to him that he was the first human in decades to have seen a dragon, the first in ages to get this close to it. He was born in the second generation after the dragons retreated underground, their existence already reduced to myth. He had not seen nor heard of dragon remains, the only tales of them being told as legends and myths, creatures of power and destruction, fire breathing reptiles with a primeval sense of good and bad. Up until last night and this morning, the only pictures he had seen of dragons were in storybooks, and they were not anything special, essentially just lizards with wings sprouting on their backs. He had never given a second thought to dragons as a myth, as something existing outside of tall tales and legends and mythology.

And yet, here he was, standing in front of one of the most powerful dragons of them all, a Night Fury. Not only were dragons real, they were intelligent. He had just seen how a Night Fury could grasp language, how it could understand him and draw, how it could form complex thoughts. This was not primeval, unintelligent creature who dealt out death and destruction, this was an intelligent, gentle, albeit excitable, Night Fury. And there was something about it that Hiccup saw was fascinating, something that drew him in for more, something that started to make him question what his life had been before this.

In the nanosecond after looking into the Night Fury's eyes, he began to see something, something that brought out a part of him that he didn't know existed. He began to see the possibilities that dragons could hold, how many avenues it would open for him to explore and learn more about the earth he lived on. He began to see himself traveling all over the world, discovering things that had not yet been seen before, meeting people beyond the borders of the mainland Kingdoms, learning something new each and every day. He saw himself with this Night Fury, not merely as a creature, but as a friend one that was, in many ways, like himself. He saw the similarities they shared, how alike they were, and had a feeling that there could be a great friendship between the two of them. This Hidden World they lived in was one of them, an underground haven for who knows how many dragons, all living down there peacefully and happily. No wars, no conflict, no destruction. He could learn so much from them, not only about themselves, but about himself and the rest of humanity, too.

 _Put your hand out to him,_ a voice in the back of his head told him. Hiccup put his hand out towards the snout of the dragon, but it moved its head to the side, like it was shying away from him. _No, not like that. Put it out to him, but let him choose to come to you_ , it said.  
Hiccup obeyed the voice, putting his hand out slowly towards the dragon, but stopped short of touching the dragon. He closed his eyes, and waited.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Hiccup, with eyes still closed, took a deep breath, and turned his head away, hoping that maybe the dragon hadn't crept away, that maybe there was still a chance for him to learn all about dragons through the Night Fury. He outstretched his fingers, and waited.

It was not a moment after that when his palm felt something smooth, scaly and warm come into contact with it. His fingers felt it too, and his heart jumped out of his chest. Not wanting to startle the dragon, he opened his eyes and slowly turned his head, looking at the Night Fury. It had closed its eyes, leaned forward and put its head into his hand, snout fitting perfectly into his palm. He felt the black scales of the dragon and the warmth beneath them, vibrating with the dragon's deep purring. Slowly, the dragon opened his eyes as well, staring at him. Hiccup felt like the dragon was looking into his soul, seeing how the two could teach one another, how they could both benefit from one another.

They held their position for what was in reality a minute, yet for Hiccup, it felt like an hour. By the time they both pulled back, the sun was already in the sky, the orange morning glow bringing a red sheen to the dragon's scales, still black as night. It was magnificent, and all Hiccup could do was marvel at the dragon he had just befriended.

There was something exciting about it. He felt like he had made a lifelong friend, if his grandfather's relationship was anything to go on, and it was exciting to think about the future. He didn't have to worry about becoming a king, or winning any wars, not even who he had to marry. All he had to think about now was how to make the perfect saddle to ride _his_ new dragon.

"Well, I take it you both got along pretty well, then," a voice called to him from behind, "How about Toothless and I take you up for a little bit of a first flight?"

* * *

 **A/N: I was going to have this be two chapters but I wanted to end it after this scene because 1.) I didn't want to overdo this chapter and keep this moment special and**

 **2.) Next chapter will make more sense if it's just…well, look at the last line…  
Also, Chapter 1 will probably be going to get a rewrite here soon, so stay on the lookout for that. Nothing too big, just wanting to bring in more depth to the background of the Kingdoms presence on Berk and the HiccupIV/Asher relationship. **


	4. Not dead, not cancelled update

**Hey guys, for those of you reading this story, I just wanted to give you a little update. Don't worry, the story isn't being canceled, I just wanted to let y'all know that I am going through the story and editing some stuff. It's going to be turned from the original, couple chapters and then an ending into something that is larger in scope. As far as any of the previous chapters go, they will be 99% the same, there is just going to be additional stuff added to the storyline and things like that. Most of it has to do with the ending of the third film, as I want the story of this universe to stay true to that.**

 **I don't have any indication of when this will be completed, but I will upload the updated first chapter here soon! Until then, the original chapters will stay up on here! Thanks guys and girls!**


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